Synonyms can be created in a number of ways. One interesting way synonyms are made is by introduction of vocabulary from other languages. For example in English, because of England’s history of being a conqueror and being conquered by foreign kingdoms, the language has absorbed vocabulary from the languages of the conquerors or conquered. When England was ruled by the Normans from France, the elite spoke Norman French, which was Latin-based while the peasants spoke Old English, which was Germanic-based. The lower classes of England would later absorb the French words into their own language. England was also part of the Roman Empire. These are reasons why English has so many vocabulary from Latin, French and Germanic languages.

Tagalog and other languages in the Philippines, on the other hand, had a history of influences from Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and from the Chinese. Then the language/s would be radically changed again when the Spaniards conquered the archipelago for 300 years and then by the Americans for 50 years. So within that time, Tagalog (and other Philippine languages) absorbed vocabulary from Malay, Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese languages, Spanish and English among others.

Comparisons

This article will be listing the various synonyms found in the Tagalog language. The list of synonyms would usually compare each Eastern/Original synonym, which is from either Malay, Chinese, Arabic, Sanskrit, other Asian languages or even an original Tagalog word with synonyms from Spanish and English.

It should also be noted that in spoken Tagalog, the Spanish or English equivalent is usually preferred. The words in the Eastern/Original column are mainly used in formal written articles especially for Filipino classes in school.

This is not a complete list of synonyms as there is literally a longer list. This is just a list of some of the more common words spoken in everyday usage.

Synonyms may refer to the same thing but with different characteristics. For example, pader may refer to a stone wall while dingding may refer to a wall made of wood or plaster. Or how unibersidad refers to a university while a pamantasan is an institute.

Nowadays, when using numbers, days of the week, months or colours, Filipinos majority of time use either the Spanish but increasingly popular, English.

Doers and receivers play very important roles in the Tagalog language.

They are not necessarily always the same as subject and object. Doers are not always subjects while receivers are not always the objects. In fact, in a sentence, the subject can be a receiver while the doer can be the object.

In the English language, other terms for these are active and passive voices. Here are samples:

Active: The boy ate the apple.

– The boy is the subject and the doer while the apple is the receiver and the object of the sentence.

Passive: The apple was eaten by the boy.

– The apple is the subject and the receiver while the boy is the doer of the sentence. In order to make a passive voice, the verbs consist of an auxiliary verb conjugated from “to be”, followed the main verb in the past participle and then followed by the word “by”.

As you can see, whether active or passive, English usually uses the Subject-Verb-Object format, where the subject is usually always the first noun or pronoun. In Tagalog however, the subject can be in a different position. This is mainly because Tagalog verbs are usually either doer-focused or receiver-focused. That means that verbs can make the subject either the doer or the receiver. Unlike in English, Tagalog verbs must be conjugated to make the sentence in either active or passive voice.

Because some verbs either focus on the doer or the receiver, the subject (Ang and its forms) can either be the doer or the receiver, the same way the object (Ng and its forms) can either be the doer or the receiver. More information about Ang and Ng can be found here.

This is also one of the reasons why there are two groups of pronouns. Check here to revise on what are the pronouns for subjects and for objects.

Doer

The noun or pronoun doing the verb.

When using the Verb-Subject-Object) sentence format, the doer usually goes after the verb regardless if it is the subject or the object of the sentence. Remember, the subject is the one that is preceded by “ang”.

E.g. Kumain ang bata ng mansanas (The child ate the apple.)

Iinumin ko ang gatas (I will drink milk.)

Gusto ng babae ang pula (The woman likes the red (one).)

Nakita mo ang aso (You saw a dog.)

Receiver

The noun or pronoun which the doer is acting upon. In other words, the one that is receiving the action from the doer.

In the VSO sentence format, the doer usually goes after the verb regardless if it is the subject or the object. Once again, the subject is the one that is preceded by “ang” regardless of word order.

E.g. Kumain ang bata ng mansanas (The child ate the apple.)

Iinom ako ng gatas (I will drink milk.)

Gusto ng babae ang pula (The woman likes the red (one).)

Nakita mo ang aso (You saw a dog.)

Active and passive voices are so common and ingrained in the Tagalog verbs, that the receiver-focused sentences are rarely translated in the passive voice in English. As a rule of thumb, in a Verb-Subject-Object format, another way to look at it is:

Verb-Doer-Receiver

As you noticed, I have not touched on doers and receivers in the Subject-Verb-Object format in Tagalog. I only looked at the Verb-Subject-Object format mainly because it is the more common format used in spoken language.

This lesson may be confusing at first. Chances are you also need a strong knowledge of verbs in Tagalog because as mentioned earlier, different verbs put focus on either the doer or the receiver. I will write another article covering verbs some time in the future.

But as always, with practise, you will be able to get the hang of it in time.

You think Tagalog is an ugly language? Either way, beauty is in the ear of the beholder. This article is a list of Tagalog words, I personally, consider beautiful. I have based the beauty of these words on the pronunciation and how it rolls off the tongue and their meanings. This list is not saying that these words are the most beautiful nor is this list ordered. Just saying that this list is contains words that sound beautiful in my opinion. However, this is also an opportunity for you to learn more Tagalog words. Here is my list of beautiful words in Tagalog:

maganda – beautiful

Obviously the first word in the list is the one that relates to this article. A very commonly spoken word so you’ll here Filipinos use this often when describing something they like. e.g. Maganda ka na! – You’re beautiful.

bahaghari – rainbow

After a sad, rainy day, when the rain stops, a rainbow will shine over the horizon signifying the happiness of the day. Or it’s maybe because of light reflection. e.g. Maraming kulay ang bahaghari – The rainbow has many colours.

bayanihan – community spirit

This word is a very influential word that means . It relates to people helping other people in various situations. From helping a family move their bahay kubo to another location or helping survivors during times of disaster. e.g. Maganda ang bayanihan ng mga tao kapag may kalamidad. – The spirit of the people is beautiful during times of calamity. NOTE: This word does NOT mean “spirit” in general.

dalamhati – grief

When something regretful or tragic happens. If you speak Malay or Indonesian, you’ll notice that this word is a combination of both dalam (inside) and hati (mind/liver). So it means something like “inside the mind”. e.g. Mabigat ang dalamhati ng kamatayan ng tatay mo. – The grief over the loss of your father is heavy.

luwalhati – glory

Basically the opposite of dalamhati. When something wonderful happens. If you speak Malay or Indonesian, you’ll notice that this word is a combination of both luar (outside) and hati (mind/liver). So it means something like “outside the mind”. e.g. Huwag mong makalimutin ang luwalhati ng tagumpay mong nakaraan. – Never forget the glory of your past successes.

pakikisama – togetherness, getting aloud

Getting along with people especially Filipinos is a huge deal in the Philippines. There are many different synonyms for this word in Tagalog including samahan or komunidad. e.g. Mahalaga ang pakikisama ng mga kaibigan. – Getting along with friends is important.

sampalataya – faith

Another variant of the word is panampalataya. e.g. May sampalataya ka ba kay Diyos o Allah. – Have you faith in God or Allah? NOTE: Yes, both God and Allah are indeed the same but with two different names for two different religions.

tadhana – destiny

Not spoken often except for romantic situations, same goes for the English word “destiny”. Very poetic word. e.g. Tadhana ko ang pagiging ng pinakasikat na aktor. – My destiny is to be the most famous actor.

This list is not complete. Chances are that I may make another list of more Tagalog words I find beautiful. What do you think?

]]>https://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/my-list-of-beautiful-tagalog-words/feed/0SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERAJ Rey ScopeIt’s summertime!! Let’s get wet!!!https://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/its-summertime-lets-get-wet/
https://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/its-summertime-lets-get-wet/#respondMon, 01 Jun 2015 13:13:52 +0000http://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/?p=122Life in the Philippines is a beach like this one in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

Mabuhay and let’s get wet!

If you do come to the Philippines, you’re Philippine experience wouldn’t be complete without a visit to either of the hundreds of majestic beaches in the country. There are beaches with different colours of sand including yellow, pink, white and even black. Examples of famous beaches include white sands of Boracay, El Nido in Palawan, Panglao in Bohol, Batangas, Surigao, Pagudpud, Marinduque and the black sand beaches of Albay province in Bicol Region.

Anyway on with the lesson.

There are several Tagalog words for the word “beach”. Those three words can be:

baybay-dagat – this is can be found in the phrasebooks but you won’t hear people say this.

playa – this is also spoken. Came from the Spanish word meaning the same thing.

Beaches are full of water. Water in general as in the water in the oceans, from the sink or drinking water in Tagalog is tubig.

WARNING: Do not drink tap water in the Philippines. Buy bottled water instead.

Obviously, if you go in the water, you’ll get wet. Duh!

The Tagalog word for wet is basa.

e.g. Basa ang tubig. – Water is wet. Sorry for the lame example.

NOTE: The pronunciation of basa is that there is more stress on the second syllable as in /buh-SAH/. If the stress is on the first syllable as in /BAH-sa/ the word will have a different meaning which it means “to read”. Don’t be confused.

Hopefully you know how to swim. Don’t worry about getting eaten by a shark. There aren’t many.

There are several words for “to swim”: lumangoy and maligo

lumangoymainly refers to the technique of swimming including lifting your arms out of the water and back into to it again in order to move around the water.

e.g Marunong ka bang lumangoy? – Do you know how to swim?

maligo, however, usually means “to get wet”. It means either, “to take a bath” or “to go for a dip in a pool or beach”. The former would be the most common meaning for the word as it’s something you do everyday. If you don’t do it everyday however, maligo ka na!!

e.g Naliligo ako araw-araw. – I take a bath everyday.

e.g. Maliligo ang bata sa playa. The child will (go for a) swim at the beach.

Once again, hopefully you enjoy your trip to the Philippines and your trip wouldn’t be complete without visiting any of the country’s wonderful beaches or going for a swim like this one in Batangas.

Regardless of whether Filipinos prefer to use the Tagalog or English colours, a knowledge of both groups would surely impress the locals of your knowledge.

]]>https://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/colours-basics/feed/0rainbow-diagram-roygbivJ Rey ScopeMy top 20 Tagalog words or phraseshttps://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/my-top-20-tagalog-words-or-phrases/
https://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/my-top-20-tagalog-words-or-phrases/#commentsMon, 06 Apr 2015 15:38:26 +0000http://jonatagalog.wordpress.com/?p=104If you do get a chance to go to the Philippines, I suggest that you learn these 20 words and phrases. Because this blog is dedicated to Tagalog, you’ll be learning Tagalog terms instead of the other languages. I still encourage you to learn words and phrases from other Philippine languages like Bisaya but for the sake of this blog and article, we’ll stick to Tagalog.

I’m sure there are other blogs with something like this and their lists are different but this is based off what I believe is more useful or polite. These Tagalog words are basics for greeting, shopping, ordering or conversational usage.

Here are the 20 words or phrases in Tagalog you need the most. I’m not saying that I’m correct and the others are not. This is just my opinion on which phrases are useful. There is no particular order of rank although no.1 would be the most important.

Salamat – Thank you. In almost every culture one needs to say Thank you to show gratitude and Philippine culture is no exception. Saying this word to a Filipino for doing a favour or to show appreciation will definitely melt his/her heart

Pahingi – Please give me../I would like... Pronounced as /peng-ee/. Whenever you are at a restaurant or at a shop and you’re making an order, all you have to do is say this word plus the item after that and there you have it you’ve made a basic request. e.g. Pahingi isang manok. – Please serve one chicken.

Mabuhay – Greetings This word has been promoted in a lot of promotional tourism materials of the Philippines. You can still try greeting someone with this.

Kumusta – Hello, how are you? Technically this is mainly used in conversations more than Mabuhay when you are saying Hi to someone, but it’s good to familiarise both. If you hadn’t noticed, the word is a localisation of the Spanish greeting “Como esta” which means the same thing.

Oo – Yes Pronounced as /oh-oh/ but very short and quick.

Hindi – No. It’s self-explanatory. The stress is one the second syllable.

May../Mayroon (Meron) – There is…/to have Pronounced as /my/ and /meron/ colloquially. Mayroon is considered formal. If you want to say that something exists or someone has something, this is what you say followed by the object. e.g. May kainan doon. – There is an eatery over there.

Wala – There is none./Nothing If you want to say that there is none of or you don’t have any, you do not answer “Hindi”. You answer this. e.g. Walang kainan doon. – There is no eatery over there.

Po – Sir/Madam Even such a short word can mean something very respectful. Mainly used when talking to older people or someone of higher distinction. Add this word after “Salamat” or “Kumusta” and you’ll make the phrase more formal. e.g. “Salamat, po“. “Kumusta, po“.

Ano ang pangalan mo? – What’s your name? You’re going to need this when you meet new people and learn their names so that you can add them to your list of Facebook friends.

Ako si …. – My name is…/I am …. When someone asks for your name, this is your reply plus your name afterwards. NOTE: This is not for saying like “I am a doctor”. This is only for saying what your name is. e.g. Ako si Jonny. – I am Jonny.

Masarap – Delicious Hopefully you get a chance to try Filipino food. For first time travellers, I don’t recommend street food or inihaw. If you want to try Filipino food that’s safe, either eat at a Filipino party or at a Barrio Fiesta branch. There should be lots of them throughout the country. I hope you like the food too that you can say masarap.

Maganda – Beautiful I hope that your stay in the Philippines is beautiful and fun. There are a lot of beautiful things to see here aside from the not-so-beautiful. Beautiful landscapes, beaches, fiestas and, yes, the women.

Magkano – How much? You’re going to need this when you go shopping. NOTE: This does not mean “how many”. This is for when asking for a price.

Ganito – Something like this This word may come in handy. This word denotes when you are comparing something near you. You can add this to the other words above. If you’re going shopping or talking about something, you can say “Meron pang ganito?” (Is something like this still available?) pointing to what you’re talking about. Amazing how one Tagalog word can substitute for three English words to mean one thing.

Ingatna – Take care As said in a different post, the phrases for “Goodbye”, which you see in dictionaries are rarely spoken. However, when you’re leaving or they’re the ones leaving, it’s still good to say “Ingat” to let them know that you want them to be safe. This is probably the closest Tagalog word for “Goodbye”.

Teka muna/Saglit lang/Sandali lang – Wait for a moment. You have three choices. If you need a moment to do something and you need the other person to wait for a second, this is what you say.

Saklolo/Tulong – Help! This is for emergency. If you get your wallet stolen, you’re being attacked, you need a doctor, a house is on fire, you just yell this out.

Tama na – That’s it/That’s enough This can mean two things: “You’re correct” and “That will be all, I don’t need more”.

Huwag na – Don’t do it.. This can be either a polite request or a strict demand to tell someone to not do something .

There are so many phrases in Tagalog that are just as important as the 20 above. If I have time I may make another list of just-as-important phrases. Hopefully you get to use these phrases during your trip to the Philippines and put a smile on their faces when you attempt to speak these.

I’ve already covered this topic in another article in another blog. I’ve learnt a little bit more about the history of the Filipino language during my stay in the Philippines so this post will be an update to the same post on my other blog.

When I was growing up, my parents would speak both Tagalog and English to each other. However they only spoke English to me because I was growing up in Australia where English is primarily spoken. Sometimes my parents would teach me a few Tagalog words but I would first call them Filipino words. Every time relatives call the language Tagalog, I would always call it Filipino for simple reasons: Filipino is a language from the Philippines. Eventually, I would call it Tagalog too.

Later, I found out that the names Tagalog and Filipino (once known as Pilipino) both refer to the same language and are often interchanged for different purposes. Much like Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Malaysia, Spanish and Castillian and even Chinese and Mandarin.

They both have the same grammar, vocabulary and syntax. Are there any differences between the two? Why does one language have two names?

If there are some inaccuracies, let me know.

How Tagalog became Filipino

I’ll just quickly give the background of the Filipino language because I’ve already written about it in the article with the link above.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, there was no unifying language in the archipelago, although Tagalog, Cebuano and Ilocano were the three most common languages. A possible lingua franca at the time would be Old Malay but it was mainly used to communicate with Brunei and Srivijaya, which was based in Sumatra. After independence from Spain, the Philippines needed a unifying language other than Spanish to represent the Filipino nation.

The national constitution requested a national language based off an existing language native to the Philippines. In 1937, a committee consisting of members of different languages, spearheaded by then-President Manuel L. Quezon, held an election where they chose Tagalog out of the many languages in the Philippines. It was chosen mainly because it was the language of the capital, Manila, it was a widely-spoken language in the archipelago and there were already more publications in Tagalog than other languages. However, speakers of other languages complained about why their language wasn’t chosen feeling that they have to learn someone else’s first language and native Tagalog-speakers didn’t have to learn anyone else’s.

Later, Pilipino was renamed to Filipino in 1973. Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution states that the Filipino language was supposed to consist of elements from other languages of the Philippines. As of now, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and English.

Is Filipino just plain Tagalog?

Having already mentioned the short history of the Filipino language, it is now stuck in minds of Filipinos on whether Filipino/Pilipino and Tagalog are truly the same language. Sometimes, even Filipinos have trouble explaining the difference between Tagalog and Filipino. If you ask me if there is a difference, my answer would be: Linguistically, yes. Politically, no.

As mentioned earlier, Filipino was based off Manila Tagalog and that there are different Tagalog dialects spoken in other provinces like Bulacan, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, etc. It is said that the Tagalog dialects of Batangas, Marinduque and Quezon are considered as the deepest. However, not all Tagalog dialects is considered as the Filipino language except the Manila Tagalog, although speakers of the other Tagalog dialects can still get by most of the time. For example, There are two Tagalog words to mean “ant”: guyyam and langgam. Guyyam is a mainly used in Marinduquewhile langgam is widely used in Manila. Although guyyam is a Tagalog word it is not considered part of the Filipino language while langgam has been accepted to mean “ant” in Filipino.

Tagalog has already existed even before the arrival of the Spaniards to the Philippines let alone before the inception of the Filipino language under the Quezon presidency. Also mentioned earlier was that Pilipino was merely Manila Tagalog with a different name when the committee decided that Tagalog would be the national language rather than say, Waray or Cebuano (many Filipinos, mainly Cebuanos would have agreed that this should have been the case because it was more widespread than Tagalog throughout the country).

Also as mentioned in the 1987 Constitution, Filipino was supposed be the national language based off Tagalog and have included other elements of languages from the Philippines in order to somehow remove the ethnic bias. The goal was to make the language a lingua franca rather than basing the national language of a native language of a certain group thus “Filipinizing” the language into something that encompasses the entire country. Having said that, both Tagalog and Filipino were supposed to be two different languages as of 1987 even though the two languages remain pretty much the same. Many Filipinos may tell you that Filipino is a mixture of other Philippine languages including Tagalog but little has been done so far.

So while Pilipino was just Tagalog with a different name, Filipino was supposed to have evolved and have incorporated different vocabulary and elements from other Philippine languages in order to distinguish it from Tagalog,

Filipino today?

Since the reformation of the Filipino language in the 1987 Constitution, majority of the new words that would be incorporated into the language, for now, has been mostly from English, which is not a Philippine language. Some people do get the misconception that Taglish (Tagalog and English code-switching) is either Filipino or Manila Tagalog, which is not the case.

So far, the only words from other Philippine languages I’ve noticed in Filipino are:

manong – older brother (Ilocano)

manang – older sister (Ilocano)

pasaway – nuisance (Hiligaynon)

Each one of these words already have Tagalog equivalents so there is not a lot of need to use these words although one could still hear them being spoken.

“Other Filipino languages”?

Apparently there is a chance that there may be variants of the Filipino language and I’m not just talking about Tagalog. There may be a few emerging vernaculars of Filipino in places like Cebu or Davao. The Davao vernacular of Filipino is probably the most well known for now, commonly known as Davao Filipino.

It is said that Davao Filipino is based off Tagalog but with even more heavy influences from Cebuano plus Hiligaynon and probably a little Ilocano. The native language of most people in Davao is still Cebuano, but this infusion of Tagalog and Cebuano et al is a fast developing lingua franca for the city of Davao. This vernacular is an example of what the Filipino language should have been like according to the 1987 Constitution. Yes, it is still based off Tagalog but chances are a guy from Manila would have trouble understanding a guy from Davao if he spoke this dialect.

However, the only place to get this information from is from blogs and some theses. There is almost no support or heavy promotion for public awareness by linguists or the government therefore one must go to Davao or Cebu to even expose themselves to this way of speaking. Unfortunately I haven’t been to Davao yet, even I really would like to visit there. When I do get the chance to visit Davao or find credible resources about its Filipino vernacular, I can only write about another time when I’ve gotten the information needed.

Conclusion

So this is my new view of the Filipino language. Both Tagalog and Filipino are linguistically one language but politically two languages. It has a long way to go before it can be truly accepted as a national language. Several communities have already done that by mixing Tagalog with the regional language which is great, however they’re not getting the commendation they or their new vernacular deserve. Some say that the entire country should just use English as a lingua franca the same way India has 300+ languages, no national language and English as a lingua franca.

Regardless on whether there should be a national language or not, the other 170 languages of the Philippines need equal recognition and protection. One small way to do that is by learning and using some of the basic phrases every time you go to a province in the Philippines that doesn’t speak Tagalog as a native language. You will be admired for your efforts in learning bits of their language, believe me.

If you do like Filipino food, you can say these words in order to thank the cook.

These three Tagalog words all mean delicious, tasty, yummy, etc:

Masarap

Malasa

Malinamnam

Masarap, however, is by far the most popular out of the three. You’ll see and hear it almost all the time on a lot of billboards or TV commercials advertising food and you’ll hear people say it in conversations. Sometimes people say sarap for short.

The word, masarap, isn’t just limited to food. One can say it when they’re feeling wind cool them in a hot climate.

E.g. “Ang init naman” (wind blows) “Ahh, masarap ang hangin”

(It’s so hot!!)(Ahh, the wind feels good.)

One can also say it to describe an exhilarating, pleasant or euphoric experience. Whether it be island hopping on a boat or watching a sunset on a beach with their significant other.

E.g. Masarap ang biyahe!

(The travel was pleasant.)

Taste

The word usually used for taste is lasa.

E.g. Ang lasa ng tsokolate.

(The taste of chocolate.)

Other words for tastes

Here are some other words to describe different tastes of food.

English

Tagalog

bitter

mapait

salty

maasin, maalat

sour

maasim

spicy

maanghang

If you want to say the food didn’t taste good, it’s simple: hindi masarap (not delicious). I dare you to say this in the face of the cook of the food you didn’t like.